Pacific Drive for Dummies

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Disclaimers/legal stuff No infringement or anything malicious like that is intended for this guide; I'm just some dink with too much time on their hands writing a guide for a really fun video game I've spent too much time on, and I hope that by reading it other players learn more about the game and/or want to play it. So please don't sue me. :3 All credit should be given if a thing I mention or include belongs to someone else; if I did not, please let me know and I will look into it ASAP. Thank you in advance. Header image for the guide, a 1985 Chrysler LeBaron Town & Country Mark Cross, was taken from an auction on Cars and Bids [media.carsandbids.com] . Support your local station wagons. Please give credit if you repost this guide elsewhere: Feel free to link this guide elsewhere, that's cool; I just ask that you don't be a jerk and repost it wholesale on other sites without giving credit. Versioning: Feb 12 2025: Initial guide release. Mar 16 2025: Minor updates to "Parts" section and various small corrections Apr 14 2025: Minor updates based on Endless Expeditions update; more to follow likely after subsequent patches May 2 2025: Minor updates and Endless Expedition section added. May 10 2025: Beat Iron Wagon default. Just to update the sections and toot my own horn a little. Oct 15 2025: In anticipation of Whispers in the Woods, I've done some general cleanup and added a few bullet points here and there. Oct 25 2025: Whispers notes are on their way once I get a better grip on the DLC; stay tuned. Jun 5 2026: Some minor corrections; WitW guide link added in endnotes. Sept 1 2026: Some minor corrections, additional notes, etc. Preface: What qualifies me to make this guide? Well, nobody else did, for starters. There's lots of smaller guides but nothing that serves as a real "Pacific Drive for Dummies" equivalent. Two, I've beaten a full run of this game on default settings twice over, suffering no deaths unless required to unlock parts, and have finished Iron Wagon, so I do know a thing or two about how this game goes, if you'll pardon the ego. Three, I've been answering bits on the forums with people who tend to ask a lot of (what should be) very basic questions with very obvious answers and wanted to compile a list of those sorts of trivia and mechanics in one place. Four, I greatly enjoy this game because there's nothing on the market quite like it. The corollary of it being a niche game that does its own thing is that many players come into it with ironclad expectations of what they want it to be, rather than what it is. This results in a LOT of misunderstandings, misinformation, and people giving up on it disappointingly soon. I believe that every game deserves a fair shake, especially this one, and if I can prevent someone crashing out because they're having a hard time with it so that they can enjoy it as intended, then I've done my job. So whether you're looking for minutiae on builds or you're getting filtered in the tutorials and need some help, this guide should help you with the mechanics of how Pacific Drive works. Before you read: The vast majority of this guide, unless otherwise specifically noted, is assuming the following: You have a cursory knowledge of video games. You have a basic knowledge of how this game controls. You are playing with default difficulty settings, and you are interested in completing the game as originally envisioned by the devs with the default difficulty settings. While there are about eight-thousand individual options for difficulty preferences, I am going to assume with this guide's advice there are consequences for screwing up and will give instructions accordingly so that you do not do that. Should you choose to play otherwise, ignore sections as needed. I will give some pointers for harder difficulties, as they actually substantially change how the game works from default difficulty to the point where it might be warranted, but I am assuming you are not cheating or playing with no damage/no death/no fatigue, etc. You are open to receiving advice that may go against how you specifically want to play the game. This game rewards preparation and planning, and punishes panicked behaviors and sloppy driving. The advice herein assumes, following that thread of logic, that you're not planning on dying or whatever because you really like how the Paddle Tires look even if it means your bad driving as a result means you get stuck in the middle of an instability storm. Here there be (some) spoilers While I won't be giving away the major story beats, in discussing the mechanics of the game, I will by necessity give away elements such as endgame enemies and endgame-exclusive resources. If you'd rather not have your experience spoiled, read at your own risk. I have a question!: First of all, I ask that you read the guide first before leaving comments, in case your question might already be answered somewhere in the guide. If not there, then I urge you to use the Search function in the forums. If all else fails, then feel free to leave a well-structured comment with any questions you might have; it might turn out to make a good addition to the guide in the end. NOTE (3/16/2025): I have turned off comments for the time being to curb spam, but thank you to anyone who contributed thus far. Apologies to anyone looking to the guide, but feel free to ask in the forums and odds are I will answer your question at some point. I won't have literally everything Some guides already answer a lot of things, like resources. I will link those where needed with credit to the author. The Driver The Driver is you, the player character. There is little to mention here except that you have a health bar, and when it runs out, that's game over where you are kicked back to the garage. There is a mild "second chance" mechanic in this game that leaves the driver with 1% health if you get hit by a heavy burst of damage (acid blob, high-distance fall, etc.) but that stops applying the instant you take any more damage and you will die. So while this will save you from instantly croaking on big hits, it will not save you from high DoTs (storm damage, etc.). You have a sprint button (with no stamina bar), a crouch that pushes your viewmodel slightly forward as well as down, and that's really about it. Go drive the Remnant places, loot things that aren't nailed to the floor, and don't run out of health. Fall damage exists, so be careful when navigating the Junctions. The unlockable Outfitting Station will allow you to make items that buff the Driver's resistance to various flavors of damage. All should be invested in at some point, but the other unlockables for the car take precedent. The Remnant The Remnant is the car, which might as well be the second playable character. The Remnant also has a health bar. Or to be more accurate, it has several. All the parts installed in/on the car have their own health values: The engine. The five doors: two up front, two in the middle, and the trunk/boot door. The five panels: one on the hood, two in front, and two in back. The four wheels. The attachments: four side attachments and two roof attachments. Important to note is that the Remnant does not follow the same 1:1 rules as a car in real life. The engine isn't the most important element of the car, but it is important nonetheless. Without a bare minimum of an engine and four wheels, the car won't be going anywhere. You can theoretically beat the whole game with just an engine and four wheels sitting on a frame, but good luck with that. If you do not have doors installed on all the available spots, the Driver is directly exposed to the elements. If you do not have a hood panel, your engine is directly taking damage from hits and the environment. This is bad and you don't want that to happen, because engines are much harder to replace than panels, and if your engine dies mid-run, you're effectively a dead man walking withou